The American regulator is once again making adjustments to the rules of the game for the crypto industry. This week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) presented an ambitious project, Regulation Crypto Assets, which offers a clear and legal mechanism for selling tokens to investors in the States. This is not just another bureaucratic initiative — it is an attempt to provide a formal answer to the question that has plagued the industry for years: how can an asset escape the gray zone of securities?
What the SEC proposes: two paths for issuers
The project provides for two scenarios for exemption from registration under securities law. The first is a simplified option, allowing the raising of up to $5 million over four years. The second is more extensive, with a cap of $75 million over any 12-month period, but with stricter requirements for information disclosure and financial reporting.
Notably, in both cases, issuers are required to provide investors with simple and clear explanations of the project's essence. Federal regulation will take precedence over regional rules, effectively eliminating the patchwork of individual state requirements.
In its structure, the initiative revives the spirit of the ICO era, when projects raised billions through public sales. However, now the maximum amounts and transparency requirements are fixed from the start, which should prevent a repeat of the chaos and fraud of past years.
The XRP case: from court to a written response
It is in this context that the question of XRP's status resurfaces. My long-running dispute between the SEC and Ripple, which began in 2020, concluded in August 2025. Judge Analisa Torres then ruled that XRP itself is not a security, but certain institutional sales violated the law. This decision set a precedent but did not provide an algorithm for escaping regulation without litigation.
The new SEC project fills this gap by offering a "safe harbor" — a mechanism under which a token ceases to be considered an investment contract if the team completes or officially terminates its stated managerial activities. This is a fundamentally new approach that could spare issuers from years of legal battles.
"In accordance with the commission's prior clarifications, the current proposal also provides a safe harbor for an issuer that has completed or permanently ceased all key managerial actions it stated or promised as part of the investment contract," said SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins in an official release.
The market, however, reacted cautiously. XRP is fluctuating around $1, with a market capitalization of $62.7 billion, corresponding to sixth place in the overall ranking. The price remains far from its all-time high of $3.65, recorded in July 2025.
Now, the key stage becomes the collection of comments (60 days) and consideration in Congress, where the CLARITY Act, which defines the market structure for digital assets, is simultaneously awaiting a Senate vote. It is the final terms of the "safe harbor" that will determine whether foreign issuers return to the American market.
My analysis: The SEC initiative is a long-awaited step toward the institutionalization of the crypto market, but the devil, as always, is in the details. The criteria for "managerial activities" could be interpreted ambiguously, and this is where the main battle of lobbyists will unfold. For XRP and similar assets, this is a chance to finally gain clear status, but investors should remain cautious: regulatory changes rarely lead to immediate price rallies.